I
want to make one thing perfectly
clear – as I said in my last Puckin’ Around article, I am not, I repeat, not
about to shell out $500 to buy an Xbox 360 and another $75 for NHL 07 to go
along with it. I have a PC which is worth well over $2000 in original parts and
upgrades, and it will do just fine Microsoft, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, EA Sports seems to think we’ll all rush out and buy this game
and if we don’t already have one (I don’t), a Xbox 360. The fact of the matter
is, the only real enhancements to our favorite sports game on the planet exist
on this platform. Sorry EA, in the great immortal words of Dana Carvey, “I’m
not gonna to do it, wouldn’t be pretty”. At least they released the game on a
DVD this year. It’s about time.

For
those of you Xbox fanatics who are looking to find out if this game is worth
it, go out and rent it or read your favorite Xbox publication. If the demo
station at Best Buy is any indication, people like this game. For my intents
and purposes, I am sticking with PC and Playstation 2 for this review, and
making no excuses about it. I’d like to see Xbox Live allow users to download
mods for the game – I can’t imagine how it would work.

The
only real reason to go out and buy this game is if you like to play the
Dynasty mode. This is for all intents and purposes the only real enhancement to
an otherwise identical game to last year. Yes, my friends, the salary cap is
now in the game, and probably should have been last year, but EA can be forgiven
if the new CBA wasn’t ratified in time to make their deadline. Once again you
get to play the role of GM of your favorite team, either one of the 30 NHL teams
or your own creation (no New Orleans Hurricanes for me this year. The karma of
2 simulated Stanley Cups seems to have rubbed off on the NHL’s real Hurricanes,
and at the expense of my favorite team no less!). Not only do you get to be GM,
you get to choose your profile and style of managing. There is much more
interaction with the owner and coaching staff, and more pressure from players
than ever before. Building team chemistry was never so difficult, but nothing
the seasoned player from years past can’t handle. Just remember, the owner
wants a winner!

If
you like to play one of the overseas Elite leagues, or if you’re situated
overseas, the Czech Elite league is in the game this time around. The all
new European Dynasty mode will allow you to take your favorite non-NHL team
through the rigors of an Elite League schedule and playoffs as the Swedish,
Finnish and Swiss leagues make their return.

EA
seems to have taken note of the PC mod community, as they’ve employed a few
of the ice textures which could have been downloaded last year – and as luck
should have it, I tried a few of my saved Goalie mods from last year and they
work – which means Dwayne Roloson can have his new Edmonton mask and not some
creation EA thought would look good. The folks at doubleminor.net seem to be
using similar tools to release their roster updates, and some of the glass and
net enhancements from last year have been re-released. I guess at the end of
the day, EA’s thought was why bother with improving the graphics of the game
when the die hard PC Gamers will do it for themselves. Anaheim and Buffalo both
have changed their uniforms this year, which means new ice, logos and jerseys –
there’s already a new Buffalo Logo add on available, but nobody has released a
jersey yet – most likely somebody is working on it. The only thing we don’t see
is broken composite sticks.

I
would have thought if little effort was going to be put into graphics which
were already pretty good, then at the very least the audio would be better
right? Wrong. The commentary has been redone on Xbox with all new voices. On
PC and PS2 it’s the same old Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson monologue. Come on
EA! Craig Simpson is an NHL coach, and has been for some time now! In some
instances the commentary is just out and out wrong. “Welcome to Edmonton,
Alberta, home of the Eastern Conference Champion Edmonton Oilers.” What’s wrong
with this picture? And another minor detail which just gets to me, the visiting
team starts first in a shootout, not the home team. If it’s in the game, it’s
supposed to be in the game. Although small, there are examples like this
scattered throughout the game. Believe me, I noticed!

The
rosters are partly up to date, but it doesn’t elude me much as I can get
updates online. Somebody over at EA headquarters must know Dominik Hasek and
Martin Havlat don’t play in Ottawa anymore.

The
controls are easily mapped again, either to EA’s Open Ice controls or to
traditional Playstation controls, which I’ve used since 1998 – don’t mess with a
good thing. If you’re using a controller with analog sticks, you can use them
to control every aspect of the game, but it’s a little tricky to master. I like
the analog control for skating, but so far I lose the puck every time I try a
fancy deke or drop pass to a late man. One timers are harder to do, and you’ll
find not every player can do it based on the fact not every player has a hard
shot. Another thing you’ll need to get used to is throwing your weight around –
if you don’t build up some speed by skating a few strides, a well placed body
check in past editions of the game won’t be so here. Also, I’ve noticed not
every defenseman can skate backwards, which is a skill not all defensemen have
mastered in the real game. So at least they’ve worked on this aspect of the
game – the playability is unreal when you get used to it. Difficulty levels
seem kosher with last year, but somehow the game seems easier to play – but then
again I’ve had a year to practice. I’m sure there will be a few forum
complaints about the well placed point shots going in the net, but it’s fun to
watch when it’s you shooting the puck. The NHL wants more scoring, well you
have it here, that’s for sure!

“Win
Every Battle” is the new slogan of NHL 07 – with new phenom Alexander
Ovechkin donning the cover, EA appears to be in some sort of transition phase –
while they rebuilt the game from the ground up for the Xbox 360 version, they
seem to have left the rest of us in the dark with more or less the same game
from last year. At least the Dynasty mode is improved and at least the price is
reasonable. To put a bit of a Microsoft Windows spin on it – think of NHL 07 as
NHL 06 Service Pack 1. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but how hard could
it really be to translate the Xbox 360 version to PC when you consider most PCs
nowadays have virtually identical hardware? It almost seems like EA is waiting
for Windows Vista and the next incarnation of Direct X. My argument is with
video cards now pushing 512 MB, flat screen monitors, 7.1 surround sound cards,
and the ability to use virtually any console controller you want, I can’t
imagine why they would need to even worry about it, but I’m no game programmer.
I did say I would be satisfied if they instituted the salary cap, and they have
– so I guess I can’t really complain. I’ll just have to wait and see what the
mod community has in store for us, and hope for the best next year. I guess I
should be happy I don’t have to play around with 3 CDs anymore.

Gameplay: 9/10 – the flow of the game and the playability is a bit more
fluid than last year – or at least it seems that way.

Graphics: 6/10 – only because they are more or less the same as last year –
which for last year were pretty damn good, and even better with downloaded mods.

Audio/Commentary: 5/10 – no improvement here as mentioned above

Replay value: 8/10 – I’ll still play the game – but with commentary turned
off as usual

Final verdict: It was hard to find fault with NHL 06, and while this is a
suitable upgrade, I would have liked to have seen more out of EA this time
around, all things considered – stop catering to the console gamers and don’t
forget about the gamers who existed long before Xbox - Rating: 7/10